Horse Racing News

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. completed one of the most memorable days of his career, and one of the most memorable days in the 51-year history of the Clasico Internacional del Caribe, when he guided Mexico's Jala Jala to a win in the $300,000 Clasico del Caribe.

Approximately 25 race horses stabled at the San Luis Rey training center were killed as a wildfire in Southern California engulfed eight barns on Thursday.

A wildfire that struck San Luis Rey Downs in San Diego County on Thursday killed a number of thoroughbred racehorses stabled at the training center. Trainers estimated at least a dozen horses had died, but think the total may grow higher.

They will run the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity and the Starlet Stakes on Saturday, although participation apparently was neither encouraged nor required.

Javier Castellano, the Eclipse Award-winning jockey the past four years, is among five veteran riders who are finalists for the 2018 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

Sharp Azteca's Cigar Mile romp was every bit as good, if not better, than his runaway win in the Gulfstream Park Handicap in his first start this year, or his easy win in the Monmouth Cup, or his dominating score in Belmont's Kelso Handicap.

Sharp Azteca proved he could run just as well from off the pace as he has when he's on it as he rallied from third to dominate Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.

The horses had barely cooled out from the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 3 at Del Mar and trainer Jonathan Thomas began thinking about running Catholic Boy, a close fourth in that race, in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct.

Before the tide of history washes over last weekend's action at Del Mar, there were two performances that deserve note, and that might have been ignored in the wave of successful East Coast invaders, since both were local productions.

Drefong, the Eclipse Award-winning male sprinter of 2016, the year he won the Breeders' Cup Sprint, has been retired from racing and will be moving to Japan to take up stud duty at Shadai Stallion Station.